What Damages Can You Recover in a Wrongful Death Case in Ohio?

Ohio law lists five categories of wrongful death damages: lost financial support, lost services, lost companionship and guidance, lost prospective inheritance, and the mental anguish family members suffer. A jury can also award reasonable funeral and burial costs.

One point matters more than any other here. Ohio caps pain and suffering damages in ordinary injury cases, but wrongful death damages are not capped at all.

What Are the Five Types of Wrongful Death Damages?

Ohio Revised Code 2125.02 sets out the compensatory damages available to the family:

• Loss of support from the reasonably expected earning capacity of the person who died
• Loss of services they provided, such as childcare, home maintenance, and daily help
• Loss of society, which the statute defines broadly to include companionship, consortium, care, assistance, attention, protection, advice, guidance, counsel, instruction, training, and education
• Loss of prospective inheritance to the heirs at law, measured at the time of death
• Mental anguish suffered by the surviving spouse, dependent children, parents, or next of kin

Loss of society is often the largest category. It recognizes that what a parent, spouse, or child provided was never only financial.

Can You Recover Funeral and Burial Expenses?

Yes. A jury or court may award reasonable funeral and burial expenses incurred because of the death.

Ohio requires that award to be stated separately in the verdict. Under Ohio Revised Code 2125.03, the probate court distributes that amount to the personal representative, who uses it to pay those costs or to reimburse whoever already paid them.

Is There a Cap on Wrongful Death Damages in Ohio?

No, and the protection here is unusually strong.

Ohio’s tort reform statute caps non-economic damages in most injury cases at the greater of $250,000 or three times economic damages, with a $350,000 ceiling per person. That statute, Ohio Revised Code 2315.18, expressly excludes wrongful death actions brought under Chapter 2125 from its limits.

Behind that exclusion sits the Ohio Constitution itself. Article I, Section 19a states that the amount of damages recoverable for a death caused by the wrongful act, neglect, or default of another shall not be limited by law.

So the legislature could not cap these damages even if it wanted to. A jury decides what the loss is worth without a statutory ceiling.

What Is a Survival Claim, and How Does It Add to the Recovery?

Many families have two claims, not one.

A wrongful death claim compensates the family for what they lost after the death. A survival claim, preserved by Ohio Revised Code 2305.21, preserves the claim the person who died would have had if they had lived.

A survival claim can recover:

• Medical bills incurred between the injury and the death
• Lost wages during that period
• The conscious pain and suffering the person experienced before dying

The difference matters practically. Wrongful death proceeds go to the family members and are generally shielded from the deceased person’s creditors. Survival claim proceeds become an estate asset, which means debts may be paid from them before anything reaches the heirs.

Where someone survived for hours, days, or months after the injury, the survival claim can add meaningfully to the total recovery. It is also the claim most often overlooked.

Can You Recover Punitive Damages?

Not through the wrongful death claim itself. Ohio’s wrongful death statute lists the compensatory damages available, and courts have read that list as not authorizing punitive damages.

A survival claim is different. If the conduct would have supported punitive damages for the person while alive, that claim passes to the estate. So in a case involving something like a drunk driver, punitive damages may still be available, but through the survival claim rather than the wrongful death claim.

How Are Damages Divided Among Family Members?

The probate court handles it. Where beneficiaries are not all equally related to the person who died, the court adjusts each share equitably, considering the loss to each person and their age and circumstances. Where everyone is equally related, the family may agree on shares, and the court steps in only if they cannot.

A share belonging to a beneficiary under 25 may be placed in trust until that age.

What Affects How Much a Wrongful Death Case Is Worth?

The main drivers are concrete:

• The person’s age, earnings, and remaining working years
• How many people depended on them financially
• The nature of the relationships and the family’s documented loss
• Whether the person suffered before dying, which affects the survival claim
• Available insurance coverage, which can limit recovery regardless of the loss
• Comparative fault, since an award drops by the deceased person’s share of blame under Ohio Revised Code 2315.33

Ohio also allows a party to present evidence of the cost of an annuity when future damages are at issue, and a jury may consider that in setting future damages.

FAQ

Are wrongful death damages capped in Ohio? 

No. The Ohio Constitution says damages for wrongful death shall not be limited by law, and the tort reform statute expressly excludes wrongful death actions.

Can we recover for grief? 

Yes. Mental anguish suffered by the spouse, dependent children, parents, or next of kin is one of the listed damage categories.

Do creditors take the settlement? 

Wrongful death proceeds generally go to family members rather than the estate’s creditors. Survival claim proceeds are an estate asset and may be reachable.

Can we recover punitive damages against a drunk driver? 

Possibly, through a survival claim rather than the wrongful death claim itself.

Who decides how the money is split? 

The probate court, which adjusts shares equitably when beneficiaries are not equally related.

Talk to an Ohio Wrongful Death Attorney

The value of a wrongful death case depends on how thoroughly the loss is documented and whether the survival claim is pursued alongside it. Families who file only the wrongful death claim sometimes leave a substantial second claim unaddressed.

The Jones Firm handles wrongful death and survival claims for families in Columbus and throughout Ohio. To talk through what your family may be able to recover, contact The Jones Firm for a free case review.